


Freeze Frame Transition

by enmity



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24006019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enmity/pseuds/enmity
Summary: She never even noticed the masked figure twisting the strings, perched languidly on roofs and swimming in alleyway shadows, biting absently into the ice cream pilfered from distracted, unsuspecting vendors.
Relationships: Aqua/Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	Freeze Frame Transition

She looked away whenever she grimaced, face framed by the falling curtain of blue like she could be hiding a set of gnashing teeth instead. Sorrow must be dignified; hatred and rage were beneath her. He’d observed her long enough for her philosophy to be clear.

But Aqua spared no such decorum for the enemy. Wielded clipped and precise, her light _hurt—_ hurt like the sting of a blade digging at his side, a knife well-sharpened with justice and righteous fury. Touched with pride edging into arrogance, though she hid it in plain sight, always the good disciple, the model student.

It pulled at Vanitas as much as it ached, the way Ventus’ light drew him in, searching for its other half, but he could always tell hers apart; picked out her sparkling trail of heroism and vigilante concern out of the worlds of cowering children and poor, hapless maidens. Victims scorched by the trail of mayhem his emotions had left behind, their hands outstretched for the benediction of their silver-armored warrior, a role as tailored to Aqua as the glass slipper fit the patchwork-wearing housemaid she’d consoled. Vanitas wanted to snort.

She never even noticed the masked figure twisting the strings, perched languidly on roofs and swimming in alleyway shadows, biting absently into the ice cream pilfered from distracted, unsuspecting vendors. _You poor thing_ , he thought, pitilessly, and there was the urge to yell it aloud. _You have a_ complex.

He wheezed instead. The words came out jigsawed, culminating in uproarious laughter, and the jolt of adrenaline fizzled, pulling to the surface with sudden viciousness the impact of her keyblade jabbing at him, the bruise swelling black and blue under his suit, under the place where his half-cracked heart would be—she’d struck to kill. He lay spread on the ground, air momentarily knocked out of his lungs. But alive.

 _Too slow_ , Vanitas thought. He hadn’t given her the satisfaction of bleeding across Radiant Garden’s pristine cobblestones. Aqua hissed through her teeth, landing with a bounce to her step. Her ego intact, if dented, and looking only slightly less pristine.

He decided then that he could stand to hate her more.

“Who are you?”

Under the mask, his smile was a crooked slash of red and teeth.

 _I’m wondering the same_ , he thought, and jumped to his feet. A nuisance, Xehanort had called her, a hindrance to be swatted away, but now he wasn’t so sure. For a moment he thought of making her light his—her strong will, her power and untarnished conviction filling in all the gaps where he was born incomplete—and when he said, “I’ll keep you around,” grinning where she couldn’t see, what he really meant was, _Maybe you’ll do better._

He stepped into the darkness’ maw, looking over his shoulder, and a giddy glee shot through him. _Don’t disappoint me now, Aqua_.

She’d turned those hard eyes at him again. He hadn’t said it aloud—but he thought she’d heard him perfectly clear.


End file.
